Hurricane Irma

[DesertRhino150]

Scientists have been assessing the effects of the 2017 hurricane season on wildlife in the Caribbean. Of around 50 wild Puerto Rican amazon parrots at their main site, 16 were confirmed killed by Hurricane Irma (the 200 captive parrots came through unscathed). The imperial amazon parrot has been spotted only three times in the wild since Hurricane Maria made a direct hit on Dominica. Also likely to have been hit hard are the forest thrush, yellow-shouldered blackbird, Puerto Rican nightjar, rare migrants such as Kirtland's warbler and piping plover, American flamingos, amphibians and coral reefs.

Not all the news was bad though - a good number of Barbuda warblers survived the hurricane, dolphin and manatee calves didn't show any signs of negative impacts, Key deer endured Hurricane Irma largely unscathed and fortunately the hurricanes missed the main breeding seasons for birds and sea turtles in mainland Florida.

As 2017 hurricane season ends, scientists assess tropical forest harm

 

[Chlidonias]

An article I just came across (it is in Spanish) says that the Large-eared Hutia Mesocapromys auritus, which is restricted to the small island of Cayo Fragoso off Cuba, appears to have had its population devastated by Hurricane Irma. Only two out of almost 90 known dens surveyed were found to still be inhabited by hutias and there were no other signs of their presence although signs of the much-larger Desmarest's Hutia Capromys pilorides were found. The article is from September 2017 but I can't find anything more recent.
Irma acaba con la jutía rata en Cayo Fragoso

 

[carlos55]

Information from Cuba by internet is very slow and hard to get. It would be terrible to lose an endemic hutia species. A comment on the article mentioned that the protected área of the species was affected by tourist projects and urbanism. Captive breeding projects could have saved this species.

 

[Chlidonias]

It would be terrible to lose an endemic hutia species. A comment on the article mentioned that the protected área of the species was affected by tourist projects and urbanism. Captive breeding projects could have saved this species.

The Jardines del Rey islands are all being utterly destroyed by hotel developments. There are no local settlements on the islands, only tourist resorts and hotels, and more are built every year. A population of the Large-eared Hutia which was introduced to a small nearby island had already been wiped out by development of the land for tourists.